THE NEW YORKER other traffic. This concept was the dar- ing forerunner of Radburn, the first of the American planned communities, of which Baldwin Hills Village is a later example. The authors mention Rad- burn's distinctive features, but wIthout indicating their significance for the fu- ture. The post-1900 civic centers that Tunnard and Reed now retrospective- ly praise were, on the other hand, al- ready obsolete In plan and architectural elevation when they were being built; their buildings were empty classic shells, woefully maladapted to the functions they serve, and their aesthetic effect, in almost every city (Cleveland, San Fran- cisco, and Madison, ,^Tisconsin, among them) was ruined because their formal order was undermined by the incongru- ous surrounding buildings. The modern form for such a center is not an open plaza choked with traffic, dIfficult to ap- proach or walk through, but a campus that-like the superblock-is complete- ly closed to all but pedestrIan traffic. Yet the reader would hardly gather fronl "American Skyline" that such new forms are beginnIng to emerge, stIlllec;s that some of our shopping centers arc already demonstrating the possibilities of civic integration. Is this, perhaps, because Messrs. Tunnard and Reed do not recognize beauty when It bears the marks of the "picturesque ecessilJnist h 1 " ? · sc 00 . In their final chapter, on the RegIon- al City, the authors have to an extent re- deemed themselves, though they have not allowed themselves enough space to do so effectively. Following up Clarence S. SteIn's concept of the regional city, which he outlined a generation ago and visually demon trated in 1939 in a film called "The Citv," the authors show the need for revising our whole notion of the city In terms of the new scale of dis- tances, which alters the problems of both centralization and decentralization. Professor Tunnard's experience in grap- pling with the problems of New Haven and other Connecticut towns gives him a fresh insight and perhaps makes the authors' dpproach here less nostalgic and formalistic-and much more challeng- ing. They see the necessity of creating a new political authority that shall be ca- pable of handling urban and rural plan- ning together, in order to maintain the qualities essential to each within the larg- er framework of the region. In holding this view, they happily vitiate the main thesis of their book, for they tacitly admit that omething more than sound aesthet- ic decisions is essential if our urban com- munities are once more to achieve beau- ty and order. One could wish that the 123 ..... v 'Y <. " " ,,' . ':- ', ......:. :....: " y ....... ;"" .. , : ., ..... t ";--: 0"... "1i -. : .= "0 ";. -:- . "" >' !:c :-..... "o ::: . ":_. . )..:i:( :, ::':: / ; . ,., y. 4, : . >. ' : :\ . r .j'. 0.::: -:-". .:.:... :-X" -:-:-..... ... .. ':, f ", ..., i " ': ! \ '..i , '", . '>> < <,. ' .., " , . " '''*', . "';'> > < ' , " . .. '::,:.": """'^', '^ ' : <. -:. . , " '"0: .... "t * >:;..: :: ... )"",,^' ... ^ " :>. . , " " ..."-s. :-:.f'..:"o :'::':' :-..... 0(-: >. '..... ø ".. '. J<.. f ,,' '" ,: '- '..' ", \\ ' )< >IJf'I>> , . "",' ..... ' " " v.. .. ', ....< .... \I: <.>/%."}, ..' ....... ...'v "'''"'' ' \ """<I> \I> 1. \ . of' . -: ^.::.......... -:.".:. .." ... ; ,ïI' : " t$ " ' :;.--. ... '/"/ " ;';;l '"'" 'oi- Keep friendships alive by telephone The years and the miles need not dim old friendships. The warmth of your voice over the telephone can keep them alive. So why lose touch with friends you'd like to see more often but can't? Whether they're a hundred or a thousand miles away, call them up and talk things over personally. It's easy to do. And the cost is small. Isn't there someone you'd like to call right now? LONG DISTANCE RATES ARE LOW Note how far you can call for a little FROM NEW YORK CITY TO Philadelphia 40 Cincinnati Boston. .. 55 Chicago.. Washington 60 Miami Cleveland . . 85 Los Angeles $105 . $120 $145 $200 These are the Station-to-Station rates for the first three minutes, after 6 o'clock every nIght and all day Sunday. They do not include the 10% federal eXCIse tax Call by Number. It's Twice as Fast. BELL TELEPHONE SYSTEM